Suicidal thoughts or suicide attempts among young adults have increased sharply since Covid, the latest Public Health France barometer shows on Monday, a new illustration of a deterioration in the mental health of 18-24 year olds.
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In this survey, conducted in 2021 by telephone among a sample of more than 24,000 people aged 18 to 85 in mainland France and 6,500 in the overseas departments and regions (DROM), 4.2% of respondents said they had thought about committing suicide in the past twelve months. In total, 6.8% reported a suicide attempt during their lifetime and 0.5% in the past year, according to this data published on National Suicide Prevention Day.
Among those aged 18-75, the prevalence of suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts declared during the year had fallen slightly since 2014, while that of suicide attempts over a lifetime had stabilized (the changes were established on 18-75 year olds using health barometers carried out from 2000 whose methodology was comparable).
According to Public Health France, “ the main result » of this survey is “ a significant increase in suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts over the course of life among 18-24 year olds, observed over the past ten years “.
Women most affected by the trend
Suicidal thoughts have more than doubled since 2014 among 18-24 year olds (from 3.3% to 7.2% in 2021), suicide attempts declared during their lifetime have increased by 50% per year. compared to 2017 (from 6.1% to 9.2%) and those declared over the last twelve months by more than 60% (from 0.7% in 2017 to 1.1% in 2021).
These results ” constitute a significant change since they were lower than or comparable to other age groups of the population in the health barometers which preceded the Covid-19 pandemic », Recalls the public health agency. This trend reversal comes “ confirm the significant increase in discomfort among the youngest “.
In this age group, the mental health of young women seems particularly affected: the prevalence of suicidal thoughts reaches 9.4% of women aged 18-24, that of suicide attempts during their lifetime 12.8%, and that during the year 2%.
Other lessons from the survey: other categories, such as socio-economically vulnerable people, those living alone or raising their children alone, are more affected by suicidal gestures and ideas.
(AFP)